Spring 2013
Sky Report: Primary Schools
by Dr. Bob Doyle, Portable Planetarium Teacher

Resources for Primary School Teachers

• Primary School Sky Basics
  
  
• Spring (Apr. - Jun.) 2013 Skies for Primary Grades
  

Spring (Apr. - Jun.) 2013 Primary School Sky Basics

On a clear night, ½ of the universe is visible from your backyard! The night sky appears dark because space is mostly empty and the universe is expanding (growing in size). The night stars are distant suns that are much, much further away than our sun, our home star. The closest heavenly body to us is our moon, which goes around the Earth about every 4 weeks. With our eyes, we can see grey patches on the moon, which are huge lava plains that hardened and cooled in moon's early history. As the moon orbits Earth, it is lit up by the sun. The moon has a day side and a night side, just like our Earth. When the moon appears skinny, we are mainly seeing its night or dark side. When the moon appears full or nearly full, we are viewing mostly the moon's day side. The nearest planets appear as bright, steady points of light. Mercury and Venus with their small orbits, always appear close to the sun, either in the eastern dawn or western dusk. The three outer planets that may be seen at any time of the night are Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

At most about 1,000 stars can be seen on a dark, moonless night. These stars are close by neighbors to our sun within our vast galaxy that has many more stars than the billions of people alive on Earth.

Spring 2013 Skies (Apr., May & June) for Primary Grades

The brightest point in the evening sky in April through mid May is Jupiter, the biggest planet orbiting our sun. Look in the western sky as it begins to get dark, there you will see a tiny point of light. (West is the direction of the setting sun.) As it gets darker, Jupiter outshines all the night stars due to its size and highly reflective clouds. In June, Jupiter will be nearly behind the sun and out of view. About the time that Jupiter disappears in the western dusk, the brilliant planet Venus may be seen low in the West as it begins to get dark. In June, Venus becomes easier to see as its setting time increases from 75 to 90 minutes after sunset. The planet Mercury springs into view low in the western dusk from late May through mid June. At dusk on May 27^th, the three planets (Venus, Jupiter and Mercury) will form a compact triangle in the 9 p.m. twilight.

In the eastern evening sky, the ringed planet Saturn becomes easier to see during the spring months. In early April, Saturn appears in the late evening hours low in the East. At the end of April, Saturn is opposite the sun and closest to the Earth. As it gets dark, Saturn appears low in the East. Later in the evening Saturn is easier to see; it shines with a steady light, unlike the twinkling stars. On May and June evenings, Saturn appears at the lower edge of a Triangle. The bright golden star Arcturus is to the left and above Saturn, forming the sharp tip of the triangle. Close by Saturn and to the right is the bright star Spica of Virgo.

The Big Dipper can be seen upside down, high in the North on spring evenings. The two leftmost stars of the Big Dipper point downward to the North Star. While the North Star is rather ordinary in appearance, it holds its position all through the night, every night of the year. For Earth's North Pole very nearly points to the North Star. So as the Earth spins, it causes our sun to appear to roll across the sky during the day while the stars, the moon and planets seem to move around the North Star at night.

The best and brightest evening star on view on April evenings is the star Sirius (sounds like serious), which is also the closest night star visible through the year. To be sure of recognizing Sirius, look in the southwest in the early evenings for Orion's belt of 3 stars in a row. This line of stars points left to Sirius. On May or June evenings, the brightest evening star is Arcturus, a bright orange star that lies along the curve of the Big Dipper's handle. In the west is the bright yellow star Capella, a star that shines in the evenings for three seasons (fall, winter and spring). As Capella descends, an equally bright star named Vega climbs into the Northeast. In late summer, Vega at dusk will appear nearly overhead.

During the 2013 spring months, the evening moon is about half full a few days after mid month, growing to full about a week later. The full moon rises at sunset and shines all through the night. As we approach the start of summer, full moons have a low path across the night. June and July full moons often shine through the much haze, making the moon appear honey colored or yellowish. About a dozen days into each spring 2013 month, the moon reappears in the evening sky as a skinny crescent. The crescent moon appears near Jupiter on April 14^th and on May 12^th. The moon will appear to the left of brilliant Venus and Mercury on June 10^th. The moon will appear near the planet Saturn on April 25^th, May 22^nd and June 19^th.

To learn more about nature, consider visiting the Compton Center at Frostburg State University for our Sunday animal talks, on Sundays at 4 p.m . Our talks are held in the Science Discovery Center (just off the 1^st floor entrance of Compton Hall, that faces the large construction area). Our April talk is "Predators of the African Plains" and our May talk is "Grazers of the African Plains" on the first three Sundays of May. The Discovery Center has some outstanding preserved African animals on display. There will be no Sunday talks in June, July or August.

For additional information, contact:

Dr. Robert Doyle, Planetarium Director
Frostburg State University
Department of Physics and Engineering
101 Braddock Road
Frostburg, MD 21532-1099
(301) 687-4270
rdoyle@frostburg.edu